Division and merger of trademark applications and registrations

If the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) cannot register your application for parts of the list of goods, you can request that the application be divided. This means that the trademark is registered for the goods and services that NIPO has agreed to. Case processing continues as normal for the remaining goods/services. 

You can at any time during the application processing at NIPO demand that the application be divided. However, the application cannot be divided after the appeal has been forwarded to the Norwegian Board of Appeal for Industrial Property Rights (KFIR). 

If you are to transfer parts of your trademark registration, you can demand that NIPO divide the registration. Then you can keep the registration for the goods/services you want to have yourself. You can then transfer the divided registration with the other goods/services. 

As long as the trademark registration is still valid, you can request that it be divided into two or more registrations. You can also demand that a previously divided registration be fully or partially merged again at a later time. 

Submit the request for division or merger to NIPO through Altinn.no. Use the form for correspondence to NIPO. 

• A request to divide an application must contain the original application number and information about which goods and/or services the original and the new application(s) should include. 
• You must pay a fee to NIPO for each new application. Such a new application is referred to as a divided application. 
• A divided application cannot include goods and services that were not included in the original application. Nor can the divided and the original application cover any of the same goods and services. 

• A request for the dividing a registration must contain the original registration number and information about which goods and/or services the original and the new registration(s) will cover. 
• You must pay a fee to NIPO for each new registration. Such a new registration is referred to as a divided registration. 
• A divided registration cannot cover goods and services that were not included in the original registration. The split and the original registration may also not cover any of the same goods and services. 

• The claim must contain the application or registration number, the number of the application or registration with which it should be merged, and which goods and/or services the merged application or registration must include. 
• If you request a partial merger, the request must contain which goods and/or services are to be included in the application or registration to which the goods and services should be transferred. 
• You must pay a fee to NIPO. 

From 1 March 2023, it is possible to divide and merge international trademark registrations where Norway is designated, cf. Section 51 a and 51 b of the trademark regulations. 

Requests for the division or merger of international registrations must be submitted to NIPO, and not directly to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). You must complete form MM22 (division) or MM24 (merger) and submit it with the claim. 

You can only request division from the time NIPO received notification from WIPO that Norway has been designated in the international registration. 

• Requests for division submitted while the international registration is being processed must meet the same conditions that apply to the division of national trademark applications, cf. Sections 18 and 19 of the trademark regulations. 
• Requests for division submitted after the international registration has been given effect in Norway must meet the same conditions that apply to the division of national trademark registrations, cf. Sections 20 and 21 of the Trademark Regulations. 
• For requests to merge previously divided international registrations, the conditions in section 22 of the Trademark Regulations apply accordingly. 

If the conditions for division or merger are met, NIPO will send a notification to WIPO about recording the division or merger in the international register. 

You must pay a fee to NIPO. A fee must also be paid to WIPO for recordation of the division. 

If the conditions for division or merging are not met, you as the holder are given a deadline to make a statement. You are also given a deadline to correct the deficiencies if possible. If you do not correct the deficiencies within the deadline, we will drop the request, but with the possibility of reinstatement. 

If you do not pay the fee by the deadline, there is no way to correct the deficiency. The application will then be dismissed. 

You will find the price for dividing and merging trademark applications and registrations under the section "Other fees" on the price page.